ACTA Set To Cover Not Just Copyrights & Trademarks, But Seven Areas Of IP

from the stretching-the-law dept

The folks who created ACTA were already sneaky enough in describing it as an "anti-counterfeiting" agreement, when they knew all along it went way beyond issues related to counterfeiting. For a while, it's been obvious that it was also very much (perhaps more than counterfeiting) about copyright, but it's actually about much more than that. We already mentioned that it is designed to cover patents as well. Now, KEI has looked at another leaked draft document, and notes that the draft sneaks in the fact that it's designed to cover seven different areas of intellectual property. In typical sneaky fashion, it doesn't come out and list them directly, but in the definitions section, defines "intellectual property" as "refers to all categories of intellectual property that are the subject of section 1 through part 7 of Part II of the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights." Basically, it's saying that it's accepting the definition in a totally different document, from TRIPs. So, what's in that document?

Copyright and Related Rights

Trademarks

Geographical Indications

Industrial Designs

Patents

Layout-Designs (Topographies) of Integrated Circuits

Protection of Undisclosed Information

Note how little of that has anything to do with counterfeiting -- which is mostly just a trademark issue.

bait and switch

Talk about bait and switch! They start by claiming that it's all about counterfeiting, which is just one of the may forms of trademark infringement and which resonates negatively with everyone or, at least, almost every one, and then they go ahead and include EVERYTHING IP-related in it.

Re:

Be happy its the new drug war, un winable, it will make private corporations a ton of money, it allows the government to say its not our fault you are poor and stupid its those pesky pirates, it will take 20 years for it to come crashing down, it will create a huge interneational bureaucracy, limit those pesky freedoms, and generally limit the advancement of science.

each of those items has everything to do with counterfeit goods. from stealing trademarks to copyright design including ic layouts. it is all part of the same deal. how could you fake a gucci bag without faking the gucci logo?

Re:

logos are already protected under current trademark law. copyrights and patents are also covered (more than adequately) under existing law. having patents extend to ic (integrated circuit) layouts is stupid. that would be like patenting the layout of a room to improve feng shui. ACTA is trying to add more draconian "protections" to existing law under the auspices of int'l consensus on enforcement of IP and thereby side stepping the legislative process. It's a smoke screen.

Re: Re:

people who can afford gucci might end up buying fake by mistake. counterfeiting is a crime against the consumer and the original producer. it defrauds the consumer and can tarnish the name and reputation of the original producer. to say that these items have nothing to do with counterfeiting shows masnick doesnt understand the concept very well and is just disagreeing with acta no matter what.

Re: Re: Re:

Note how little of that has anything to do with counterfeiting -- which is mostly just a trademark issue.

Trademark was #2 in the list of 7 things. I think "...how little of that..." describes 1/7 pretty well. Trademark law is well established, and defines what is and is not counterfeit. Mike is pointing out that the ACTA is getting it's definition of IP from a different document that describes IP in 7 terms, 6 of which do not cover counterfeiting goods. They may be related, but counterfeiting is a trademark issue.

logos are already protected under current trademark law. copyrights and patents are also covered (more than adequately) under existing law. having patents extend to ic (integrated circuit) layouts is stupid. that would be like patenting the layout of a room to improve feng shui. ACTA is trying to add more draconian "protections" to existing law under the auspices of int'l consensus on enforcement of IP and thereby side stepping the legislative process. It's a smoke screen.